Under The Rainbow
by Dark Memory
Summary: Chapter 5 up. Enter the Bloody Puppets. Ramos snares Dante and Lady in a trap, but something is different about his voice... Learn about the upcoming enemiesLots of foreshadowing.
1. One

Under the Rainbow

A familiar scene. A familiar night. It was business as usual at the Devil May Cry. And by business, I mean Dante answering the phone every single time with a friendly "sorry, not open for business yet." The act was getting old fast.

His senses flared; something odd was about to go down. He felt a presence…no, two. One familiar and one he did not recognize. Dante rested his feet comfortably on the desk and waited in the silence. And for about a minute, there was nothing but the silence to greet him back. But it was finally broken by the sound of a motorcycle. One that had just been driven straight through his wall. This bitch had nerve. He had just remodeled his building from the _last _time it was demolished.

The girl spoke in a condescending tone, told him that her name was Trish, and proceeded to hurl her motorcycle at Dante. Moved it out of the way. Easy task. As if after annihilating a demonic army of Hell, an ordinary vehicle would be the one to make him perish. But he admired the conviction nonetheless.

The girl suddenly wised up in awe of his power. She assured him that she was a friend. Lady walked up behind her, undetected, pressing her overly large gun against Trish's head.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"_Added assurance…" _A response with a bang. Never underestimate a jealous woman. Lesson Learned.

But Dante was still curious why the bitch had to ram into his new place to start with. It didn't seem like a hit or a personal vendetta. So he gave the body a quick pat down. Got all the inappropriate areas. Then, Lady gave Dante the _smack down; _rammed him hard with the base of her gun, and searched Trish's body the right way. They'd laugh about it later.

In one of her pockets, she found a picture. It was of a large castle on an island. Lady knew some investigation would be necessary. A picture wasn't much to go on, but it was a start. They both got their weapons, and walked out onto the street. Unaware of what was happening. Unaware of who was waiting for them. But they had each other. That was a certainty they could both depend on, as they ventured through the fog by the light of the moon.

It rained hard that night.


	2. Two

Two

There was no plan. Just run as fast as possible at the dead end, and hope for the best. Lady and Dante went all over town, searching for those who ran in cults or demon circles. They found many lower-class demons who did not know anything about the picture. Unfortunately, these underlings were very hostile and very stupid. Dante made it his side priority to eradicate them all.

But after nearly a week, the demon population seemed to be plummeting. It was not long after that lady caught rumors of a "demon killer" in the area. For all they knew, _they_ could have been the demon killer. But a plan began to form. They would, hopefully, lure in this unknown killer and interrogate him.

Dante knew this would be no easy task. This hunter had considerable skill to be capable of destroying just as many demons as Lady and him. Still, it would be nothing in comparison to his past adversaries.

At long last, they were ready. Dante stood in the middle of a secluded alleyway. Lady was atop a nearby building, ready to take aim at anything that approached. Dante released Ebony and Ivory. The plan was simple; aim high, create a loud sound, and draw in the killer. Dante whipped the guns around in a fancy display that was stylish and impressive to the eyes. However, one bullet ricocheted off an above fire escape, and zipped back down into his foot. The sight of him hopping up and down holding his foot was enough to make Lady laugh. "Thank god he's not human," she thought to herself. "He'd be a danger to himself more than others…"

Okay, so the plan didn't start off very well, but a newly created, on-the-spot plan B was working smoothly. Demonic blood flooded the ground from Dante's feet. This would make fine bait.

Blood. It was flowing… from his torso? He didn't understand. Blood gushed out from an unknown source on Dante's body. But he hadn't felt a thing. Lady received the signal to shoot the killer, but no one was there between the buildings but Dante. Yet, someone was still bleeding him.

The full answer still remained a mystery, but a clue was soon displayed. Born from the dark puddle on the street, by Dante's feet, a crimson demon bird emerged. A pure symbol of the Temen-ni-gru… and a testament to Arkham's power.

By looking at her, you'd have thought Lady's heart had stopped. And in a sense, it did. She buried her past with her father's death. Now this glowing creature's sight somehow tarnished all of her accomplishment. This story was not over.

A dark man stepped seemingly from nowhere. No one seemed to notice him either. A small knife was retrieved from Dante's shoulder. It had been there for quite some time. This person had gotten the jump on both of them; had evaded the sights of both of them. It didn't seem possible.

As if in reaction to Dante's thoughts, the man re-emerged from the wall to Dante's left. At first, it was just a simple hand, protruding from a solid building. The hand grew into an arm, indo a torso, into a body, like a magic trick that defied the impossible.

The man stood face-to-face with Dante and spoke with arrogance. "Welcome to _our Plan B, Mr. …?"_

"Dante."

_"Yes, Arkham spoke very highly of you. He will be pleased to know you survived Vergil's fury! He wouldn't want it any other way… than for you to die by his own hands."_

"…You spoke to Arkham? … How recently? …" Dante wasn't surprised. At this point he expected anything.

_"Oh every night, Dante. He enters my mind straight from Hell, out of nothing but pure will. Or perhaps, Anger?"_

Lady broke the light mood of the dark conversation with a loud cry. A large missile shot out from her Kalina Ann. Speeding through the air, the rocket took aim of its target; a man she wanted only to forget. But the man next to Dante effortlessly walked back through the wall he had arrived, which was reduced to debris after the missile made contact. Dante was tossed aside by the explosion. He alone had felt the force of the attack, but in this case, sorry would be good enough.

The man returned yet again, this time from the opposite wall. _"You cannot stop them. The events have already been set into motion."_

"Ugh…what events?" Dante managed to speak, picking himself up off the ground and dusting himself off.

_"You'll know soon enough Dante… once it had become clear that you pose no threat to us." _ The man turned around and began to leave.

"Wait!" Dante yelled at him, but the man kept walking. Dante raised his hands up and pressed them tightly together. This time, the man stopped. This time, time had stopped. Lady had stopped. Everything had stopped, or at least slowed down the point that movement was nearly unnoticeable.

Dante took out Rebellion and severed the man's arm off. When time unfroze, the man screamed loud. Dante just laughed. "Something to tell Arkham tonight buddy!"

The man was furious, and took off into the night, passing straight through an endless row of buildings.

Daybreak soon came. And the rain did not end.


	3. Three

Three

Lady cried. There was nothing Dante could do to help; he didn't know anything about what was going through her head. But in tie, she was ready to explain.

The man they had encountered was Ramos, an associate of Arkham. They were close friends. Ramos was even there at Lady's birth. She remembered him constantly being around in the early years of her life. He was responsible for turning Arkham on to dark practices. Slowly poisoning his friend's mind with his own life's dream, Ramos infected Arkham with stories of Sparda. Tempted him with the notion of unlimited power. Together, they began to search for forbidden books that would be used to reveal the secrets of the Temen-ni-gru, and its rituals.

Eventually, the two began to take on separate perspectives. Arkham took possession of the Grimoire of Sin, a banished book that revealed the location of the Temen-ni-gru, how to break its seals, and the method for conjuring the Envoys of the Seven Deadly Sins. But Ramos had a different agenda. After all, the power of Sparda was not meant to be shared by two people.

Ramos instead began searching for another book; one that was far more sinister. The Claviculus Mundai. The Key of Mundus. Within its gruesome contents lay the secret to unleashing Hell on Earth, through a very particular gateway. No one knew what happened to him, or if he ever found that book. But judging by his unique abilities, the answer was obvious.

Arkham and Ramos left on separate paths, but still on friendly terms. Yet they still knew that one day, _if_ they were both successful on their journeys, they would end up battling for control of the dark new world. The last thing Lady remembered of Ramos was his intense smile of approval… when her father killed her mother.What could Dante say that could help her?

"… Let's get him."

At first she was a little mad. It was so simple and inconsiderate to her pain. But it was from Dante. And that meant that the intentions behind it were so much greater.

"…Yes. Let's get him, Dante."

"Master…"

_"How did your assignment go?"_

"As planned… up until the last moment."

_"You've lost your arm. That is irrelevant. Soon you will have many arms. Soon your new body will be ready. I only need a little more time."_

"Thank you master…"

_"And one more thing… You must leave another clue for Dante. Bring him to the island so that my new apprentice can destroy him."_

"Of course, Master."

_"Stop sending women to deliver your messages. His officious partner will shoot anyone who poses a threat to her relationship."_

"Oh… shall she be invited too?"

_"It is up to you whether or not you bring the daughter. Perhaps her father would wish to see her again."_

"Yes, Master. Please, give my regards to my dear friend."

_"I will not go near that retched filth! He still reeks of Sparda… those remnants still flow within him and I will have nothing to do with that bastard demon. I can barely deal with my own new apprentice. Now go… Your new body is almost complete."_

Dante and Lady searched for anyone with knowledge of the island, knowing that it was a lost cause. Only one person knew of that place because only one person possessed that book.

"(That blonde bitch that ruined my store might've known where the heck we're supposed to go..)"

"**What was that?"**

"What! Nothing!"

In their eyes, the only option was to track down Ramos. Returning to the Devil May Cry to rest and think up a plan seemed the best idea.

"(No need to use the front door anymore…)"

Dante was stunned to find that in their absence, his shop had been further vandalized. Inside, someone had started a small bonfire. He had nothing to put it out with but his coat; he needed a new outfit though anyway.

He looked at what had been burning. They were pages of something. Along the side were some pages yet untouched by the flames. He read the titles out loud.

"Gluttony… Greed… Lust… (definitely a favorite!)"

Lady hit him for that last comment. They were pages from the Grimoire of Sin. Dante cleaned up the ashes by sweeping them into a corner. He sat comfortably at his desk, where he found a note waiting for him. The directions to the island were all there, given away in great detail.

"So the enemy's inviting us right in…"

The thought worried him. Sure he was grateful; made his job much easier. But they would have to possess a great power to allow this. Ready for his next big party, Dante grabbed some of his newly acquired weapons and left with Lady.

They chartered a boat leaving the mainland and set foot on the island in a matter of hours. The wind was heavy and a foul smell blew in the air. Death surrounded them. They could feel it. Spirits. The castle had a spirit of its own. Something horrible must have happened there… And fury. The raw emotion scratched at the inside of their throats.

But they couldn't falter. Up the hill and around the bend, they walked, until finally coming to a large, locked iron gate. It was rusty, and hadn't been used in generations. One swing from Rebellion and a new path opened before them.

"_No turning back now."_

Dawn broke upon the heroes, and the rain seemed endless.


	4. Four

Four

"Welcome to the End."

The voice boomed out from somewhere within and echoed loudly in the main hall. Lady and Dante stepped forward, and the exit behind them sealed itself off. They recognized the voice. Ramos. He was waiting.

Looking for a way deeper into the castle, they proceeded up the stairs. But the path was destroyed, and there were no doors in sight on the upper level. Looming high above them was a large circular window that the sun shone through and lit up the room as best it could.

At the base of the staircase and under the window stood a large, elaborate statue of amazing detail. A powerful knight riding a horse that reared back in a strong defiance. On its side, there was an inscription. "Dedicated to the holy and noble Gabriel Lionheart, for defending my castle for eternity from the weak. The frail are not permitted. –June 13, 1475."

Lady read it over to herself, not knowing what to make of its message. She prayed that they were not weak in the eyes of the castle's protector.

"Dante, do you really think that both of us are strong enough to be here?"

"_Not sure… You better walk behind me, just in case."_

Slap.

_"Oww… Hell was **that** for? I didn't mean for protection or anything. I was just thinking that if that cougar-guy saw us, he would see me before you and we would look strong._

Slap.

Dante sighed. He just wasn't good with words.

"It's not a 'cougar-guy.' It's Lionheart, and I don't think it's such a good idea to insult him again while we're here."

Dante agreed, even if just to avoid another painful comeback. On the ground level, they found two doors, but one was locked.

_"Better stuff's behind locked doors… Blow it open."_

Lady shouldered Kalina Ann and fired a great missile. But when the missile came within a certain distance to the door, a strange force field appeared. It guarded the door against the explosion. Then, a large hand appeared from its read depths. It curled up into a fist, swerved around Lady, and knocked Dante off his feet.

_"… … … That's bullshit…"_

"Heehee… well it **was** your idea, Dante."

The two of them approached the other door instead, deciding that without a key, they were going to avoid locked doors that just happened to have giant, painful red hands that came out of them. Dante fired his gun at the new door.

_"No weird fist-thing. Let's go."_

They pressed onward past some small storage rooms, and up a long flight of stairs leading up to one of the towers. It lead to a dead end. But in the ceiling, Dante could see the soft light of a small candle trickling down, seeping through a crack.

_"Blast it."_

"Um.. Dante? Are you sure you want…"

_"Blast it open."_

"Yeah, but remember a few moments ago, the **last** time we just randomly decided to blow through something? Maybe we should just…"

_"Look **Girl… **We've been here for twenty minutes-And I'm itching for a battle. I just have a feeling that something really awesome's up there, and I want to fight it."_

Don't argue with Dante when he's in a dangerous mood; she knew better. So, she blasted her way through the ceiling. The two of them climbed onto a table and through the newly created hold in the ceiling. There, they found a small closet, a table, and the candle that had caused the light. This finding was pointless.

But then Dante saw something. A human-size puppet stood in the corner, propped upright against the wall. Its strings were tied to a nail near the ceiling. In its hands, something glittered in the light of the candle. They inferred it was the key to the door with the mysterious force.

Dante took the key and yelled. He was far less happy to have found the key than expected. Lady didn't understand.

"What's wrong? Now we can move on."

_"I'll tell you what's wrong. That isn't the point. I need to **fight **something. Where's all the demon guards? Where the **hell **are the bosses? Why is there nothing to fight here! Nothing at all! I just **found** a **key**. I just **walk** up here, **find** a key that will **surely** take us deeper in the castle… **and nothing is defending it?** This Ramos guy's a real moron."_

"Umm… Dante? Behind y…"

_"This whole place sucks. When I find this asshole, I'm gonna show him how to throw a **real** party. sigh… I give up. There's nothing here. Maybe we have the wrong place?"_

But Irony has a way of stabbing you in the back. Sometimes literally. Sometimes using a demon puppet with a pocket full of knives.

_Dante soon found out what was waiting behind him. The sun died down, and the rain poured heavily upon the castle tower._


	5. Five

Five

The blade struck quick and painlessly. What stung was the irony of the cosmic joke. Soon Lady and Dante were overrun by the haunting marionettes.

"Hack and slash 'em."

"Easy for you to say!" Lady bashed demons around the room while Dante swung his long sword violently. The puppets were easy enough to kill. The only difficulty was that they appeared in large numbers. One marionette had the power to suspend Lady in air by strings. She screamed, and while the bloody puppets prepared to slice her with their knives, Dante cut her loose.

Once the room began to clear, Lady could safely fire her missiles. This easily finished off the remaining demons. Walking back down the staircase, Dante used his key to open the locked door. When he turned the key to lock it, the giant red hand emerged, spasmed in a manner that suggested pain, and shattered.

The two stepped through into a new room. There were a few weapons stashed in the corners, propped up against the light blue stone wall. But the room's main attraction was a small plane. Its red paint job was beginning to erode, but it appeared to still be in a good working condition.

"I'm not so good with my history, but did they even have planes in this castle's time?"

"I'm not sure either, Dante… It may have been brought here by the enemy."

**"Blow it up."**

"What is with you and using me to destroy things? Anyway, I won't. I think it's a bad idea and we may need it later. This time, you should think things thr…"

She was interrupted by Dante, who had reached over her arm and fired Kalina Ann anyway.

…As fate would have it, a bloody puppet, suspended by strings, dropped down into the rocket's path and made it explode before making contact. Now, observing the ceiling, they could see that nearly thirty of the possessed marionettes were hanging. Lady shot them down one by one, and they each exploded into flying pieces of wood. It was the most one-sided battle that Dante had ever been a part of.

They approached an "elevator" in the corner of the room and rode it to the bottom; a dead end. Suddenly, the elevator rose back up, stranding them there, and a voice called out to them.

_"This room was used as a sort of…warming up area. For the massacres at the coliseum, I mean. The castle's master often punished people here, and forced them to fight to the death."_

Ramos spoke in a deep, harsh voice that just barely gave him away. The dark tones were not typical of him, and Dante could tell that he had undergone some change; into what, he did not know.

_"Fight for me, Dante. Fight for the castle's king and guardian, who even now watch you. Criticizing. Learning. Planning. Believe it; you have no hope of leaving this island alive!"_

The words poured out in a scream and four gates in the circular room opened in response. Marionettes spilled out interminably until the room was full.

"You think this will stop us, Ramos? I'll admit, it's damn near ridiculous how many puppets want a piece of me, but it doesn't matter. I've been saving thing for such an occasion."

Dante reached into his new coat pocket and pulled out a shining blue orb. It appeared to be a glowing crystal, but when Lady examined it further, she could see it was a small glass container with a sky blue liquid force resting inside.

"……My best party favor."

He jumped off a puppet's head and leapt high above the crowd. Then he slammed the glass ball hard, down onto the ground below him, and it imploded with a blinding flash. Lady quickly regained her vision, and found that everyone in the room had perished. But Dante snuck up behind her and scared her off her feet.

"Asshole! Don't make me worry like that!"

"Oh? Of all people, you thought **I** would do something that could kill myself? Hahahaha…."

"Well, how am I supposed to know you wouldn't pull something crazy and heroic to sacrifice yourself for me?"

"I wouldn't press your luck on that one lady. Besides, this stuff's just holy water. Kills all surrounding demons. Even stings me a little bit, but it's worth it when I'm in a bind. Got two more."

_"You couldn't survive my Hell if you had fifty, half-breed!"_

"Ramos! Hey buddy! You gonna come down here and whoop my ass, or just send us more pathetic wooden pieces of shit?"

_"Oh, we'll meet soon enough. But that's only if you survive the wrath of Lionheart and his men. You've made him quite angry Dante…"_

"Me? What the hell did I do?"

_"You're killing off the people he swore to protect for eternity! I mean, whose souls did you think were in these marionettes? And you've already destroyed so many… all those innocent people. Congratulations, Dante. You've dug your own grave."_

"**Ramos!**" Dante screamed after him, but his only feedback was an insane laughter that echoed long before fading into nothingness.

The future seemed darker than the night sky, beyond the castle walls, and the infinite rain.


End file.
